Our Doctrinal Convictions

We believe that all “Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the Scriptures as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction. Thus making it authoritative to our Christian walk.
(Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13, 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:1-6; 2 Pet. 1:21)

We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage and obedience.
(Matt. 28:18-19; John 1:1; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)

We believe that God created an innumerable company of sinless, spiritual beings, known as angels; that one, “Lucifer, son of the morning” – the highest in rank – sinned through pride, thereby becoming Satan; that a great company of the angels followed him in his moral fall, some of whom became demons and are active as his agents and associates in the execution of his unholy purposes, while others who fell are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”
(Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; 1 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6)

We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man.
(Gen. 1:26; Rom. 3:10-19; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8)

We believe that in the prophecies of the Scriptures, the eternal Son of God came into this work that He might manifest God to men, fulfill prophecy, and become the Redeemer of a lost world. To this end, He was born of the virgin and received a human body and a sinless human nature. We believe that, on the human side, He became a perfect man, but sinless throughout His life; yet He retained His absolute deity, being at the same time very God and very man.
(Luke 2:40; John 1:1-2; Phil. 2:5-8)

We believe that, according to the eternal counsels of God, He gave His life as a ransom for all. (Jn. 1:11; Acts 2:22-24; 1 Tim. 2:6) He voluntarily accepted His Father’s will and became the divinely provided sacrificial Lamb and took away the sin of the world. He received upon Himself the holy judgments against sin which the righteousness of God must impose. His death was therefore substitutionary in the most absolute sense – the just for the unjust – and by His death he became the Savior of the lost.
(John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26; 2 Cor. 5:14; Heb. 10:5-14; 1 Pet. 3:18)

We believe that, according to the Scriptures, He arose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which ultimately will be given to all believers.
(John 20:20; Phil. 3:20-21)

We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and not according to any measure of human works, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service.
(John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; Rom. 1:16-17; Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:8-9)

We believe that when an unregenerate person exercises faith in Christ that person passes immediately out of spiritual death into spiritual life. The saved one possesses every spiritual blessing and is absolutely complete in Christ, and is therefore in no way required by God to seek a so-called “second blessing,” or a “second work of grace.”
(John 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:3; Col. 2:10; 1 John 4:17; 5:11-12)

We believe that all true believers everywhere, once saved shall be kept saved forever. We believe, however, that God is a holy and righteous Father and that, since He cannot overlook the sin of His children, He will, when they persistently sin, chasten them and correct them in infinite love; but having undertaken to save them and keep them forever, apart from all human merit, He, who cannot fail, will in the end present every one of them faultless before the presence of His glory and conformed to the image of His Son.
(John 5:24; 10:28; 13:1; 14:16-17; 17:11; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 6:19; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2; 5:13; Jude 24)

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a special sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, dwells in every believer, and by His baptism unites all to Christ in one body, and that he, as the Indwelling One, is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service.
(John 14:16-17; 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 2:22; 4:30; 5:18)

We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and ordinances of the church and that they are scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age.
(Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts10:47-48; 16:32-33; 18:7-8; 1 Cor. 11:26)

We believe that we are called with a holy calling, to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and so to live in the power of the indwelling Spirit that we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
(Rom. 6:11-13; 8:2, 4, 12-13; Gal. 5:16-23; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 2:1-10)

We believe that divine, enabling gifts for service are bestowed by the Spirit upon all who are saved. While there is a diversity of gifts, each believer is energized by the same Spirit, and each is called to his own divinely appointed service as the Spirit may will.
(Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:11)

We believe that rewards are promised according to the faithfulness of each believer in his service for his Lord, and that these rewards will be bestowed at the judgment seat of Christ after he comes to receive His own to Himself.
(1 Cor. 3:9-15; 9:18-27; 2 Cor. 5:10)

We believe in the future and literal return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Despite God’s patience toward humanity, universal righteousness will not be realized prior to the second coming of Christ and our present age will end with fearful apostasy. Those in Christ will be rescued from the wrath of God, which is to come upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

We believe in the Great Tribulation as the fulfillment of Israel’s seventieth week, which will be a time of judgment on the whole earth. The Great Tribulation will be climaxed by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the saints, to introduce the Millennial Age, to bind Satan and place him in the abyss, to lift the curse which now rests upon the whole creation, to restore Israel to her own land, to give her the realization of all of God’s covenant promises, and to bring the whole world to the knowledge of God. Christ will come as the eternal King, abolishing all other rule and authority. “For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.”
(1 Cor. 15:24-26; Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 37:21–28; Jer. 31:35-37; Matt. 19:27-28, 24:15–25:46; Acts 15:16–17; Rom. 8:19–23; 11:25–27; 1 Thess. 1:10; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Tim. 4:1–3; 2 Tim. 3:1–5; 2 Peter 3:8-9; Rev. 20:1–3)

We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood or adoption.
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person biologically as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and likeness of God. (Gen 1:26-27.) Both men and women are equally valuable before God and each bears the image of God. Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen 2:18-25; Matthew 19:4-6) We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4) We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.
We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God.
(Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10)

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
(Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11)

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of Reliance Fellowship. Holding people to Biblical authority does not constitute hateful or harassing behavior, if done in a proper fashion. We are committed to handling all such matters with an attitude of humility and grace.

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.
(Ps 139, Jeremiah 1:5)